


Roots

by chronicAngel



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Hair Dye, Middle School, POV Third Person, Sasuke is kind of an ass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-10 06:10:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10430859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chronicAngel/pseuds/chronicAngel
Summary: She tries so hard to get his attention.





	

She notices the beginnings of brown on her scalp when she looks in the mirror while brushing her teeth in the morning, not even an inch of growth and yet she still finds herself disgusted with the evidence that pink is not her natural color. She's two weeks into her eighth grade year now, and the other kids her age are brutal, so she is of course worried about being picked on for the evidence of her hair's true pigment, but being that it is only maybe a quarter of an inch, she decides that this is not enough to warrant begging her mom to let her stay home from school so she can painstakingly bleach and re-dye her hair all on her own as if doing that when there's a whole inch or two is at all healthy for it. She chooses her outfit carefully, as she does every morning: a long, deep red tank top that she wears over black leggings, and her usual blue sandals.

Her father has already left for work when she heads downstairs, her morning routine finished as she picks her backpack up and throws the straps over her shoulders with familiarity (she's had the same one since she was ten, a plain old ugly green thing that many of the girls her age make fun of her for), but her mother is there to kiss her forehead and give her the bento she prepared while Sakura was getting ready. Thanking her, and giving her the usual goodbyes and I love yous that she gives to her mother every morning before she leaves for school, she jogs out the door and down the street to her bus stop, waiting with a handful of other students who live in her neighborhood for the obnoxiously yellow vehicle to stop by the street corner on which they stand and pick them up so they aren't late.

Her eye twitches as Naruto Uzumaki tries to talk to her, and she pushes his loud, prodding voice to the back of her mind as she shuffles onto the bus and sits in the back alone. It is clear from his facial expression that he is disappointed, but he perks up after a second and squeezes into a row of seats with Shikamaru and Chōji, loudly saying something about a new video game he has saved up for. Sakura can't imagine what it must like to be Naruto, to have never known the love of your parents, to be on your own from birth, and never to have had any friends, to constantly be pulling pranks, the legality of which often questionable, to never have had a strict set of rules or anyone to enforce those rules. She would hate to be in his position, she knows, but she isn't in his position and she can't help but lack empathy for the boy when he goes running his mouth.

She stares out the window at the blur of green as the bus rushes by trees, the occasional splash of color from a bird or a bundle of wildflowers catching her attention. The ride to school is never very interesting.

She steps off the bus with a bright smile, bidding the bus driver farewell and telling him to have a good day before she rushes to be inside the building before she can be assaulted by the leaves that are starting to fall early this year. She sits in her usual seat, because her class does not have assigned seats but most of the students fall into place anyway, and beams when Sasuke takes his normal spot next to her, grumbling about her sitting there again. Naruto, as always, sits across from them, and she groans.

Sakura is not stupid. In fact, she is very smart, almost at the top of her class if it weren't for the prodigy currently sitting next to her, and thus she doesn't feel bad as she pays no attention to the teacher at the front of the room in favor of watching Sasuke and the way his face scrunches up when he accidentally writes the wrong letter because he is very smart but he doesn't write fast enough to keep up with their teacher's voice.

In a fit of bravery that she has never even considered before, she gently plucks the mechanical pencil from his hand, and she can tell that he would snap at her if they weren't in the middle of class, but instead he just glares at her as she wordlessly picks up where he left off.

He hates that she writes faster than him; she can tell by the way he keeps muttering under his breath that he can take his own notes even as he notices this isn't going to be an effective strategy in getting his paper back from her. She is amused by the transition from his neat, almost scratchy handwriting to her smooth and girly handwriting which prints in letters twice as large and twice as legible as his. This is not because her handwriting is big, but rather because his is incredibly small. The bell rings, telling them class has ended, and he crinkles his nose as he takes his pencil and paper back from her and looks at her own blank sheet; if he wants to help her, he doesn't show any intention of doing so, instead neatly putting his things away and moving to walk to his next class, which she also shares with him.

She has taken to falling into step behind him, which is easy because she packs up faster than him and sits directly next to him; he usually just ignores her, but she has been delighted in the past to find him exchanging a few words with her on occasion outside of the typical 'go away'. Today is not one of those days, she notes, and she is almost sad about it, but she perks up again when he offers her his pencil and paper with a look of clear agitation on his face at the beginning of their next class. They share almost all of their classes, except for the fact that he has gym when she has health, and she takes his notes for every class that day and wonders if he will let her do this again tomorrow because it is nice, interacting with Sasuke Uchiha this much in one day.

After school, she practically runs up to him as he begins the walk she has seen the beginning of a number of times, but has never watched long enough to see the end of as she suspects he lives further from the school than she would be able to see. He tenses visibly, but when she doesn't try to hug him from behind or otherwise show him physical affection, he seems to calm down a bit. She grins at him expectantly and he raises a brow at her, before seeming to realize what she wants.

"Thanks for taking my notes, I guess. I didn't need you to, but it was nice." He doesn't smile like she wants him to, because she just knows that his smile would look so nice, but she thinks that him thanking her is enough. This thought is destroyed when he continues, "You have roots." He shoves his hands in his pockets and walks away.


End file.
